GRADING AND MARKETING HOPS. 225 



expert who wanted the first quality of 1897 Oregon 

 hops. Therefore they were choice hops, using the 

 word choice as a noun, and constituted a good delivery 

 on the part of the grower. 



On the other hand, the merchant made a sale of 

 choice Pacific coast hops to a brewer, without specify- 

 ing any particular lot of hops, and inasmuch as the 

 hops which he obtained from the farmer were speckled 

 by blight, they were not of such a character as could 

 be correctly designated by the use of the adjective 

 choice, and hence he was unable to deliver them on that 

 particular contract. 



Summing up the whole matter, it is safe to con- 

 clude thus: To arrive at the grade of a given hop, it is 

 best to say that that hop which in an open market 

 should fetch the very highest price, would grade 

 "fancy," while those fetching the lowest average price 

 would grade "common,'' and the difference between 

 the highest price and the lowest price would be equally 

 divided to mark the grades of choice, prime and 

 medium. There is no other feasible way of describing 

 or ascertaining the difference in market value between 

 hops of different grades, as the true and only test (from 

 the standpoint of grower and dealer) is the market 

 value, which is based upon the consideration of all the 

 desirable and undesirable features of a given hop. 



SAMPLING HOPS PREPARATORY TO SELLING 



While the wholesale sampling of hops by dealers 

 has become a great nuisance to hop growers, they do 

 not know just how or where to draw the line, as by 

 refusing a dealer samples, they may miss the sale of 

 their crop at a good figure. Therefore, they are en- 

 tirely at the mercy of all the sample fiends who swarm 

 over the country about the end of hop harvest, cutting 

 and mutilating the growers' nicely sewed bales and 

 scattering hops about. In giving a sample where the 

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